THE  SAVIOUR 

I N 

Cemtral  America 

BY 

77  C/~/A/=>A^/kAV 


182' 


INTRODUCTION 


By  L.  C.  BARNES,  D.  D. 

NO  OTHER  country  has  so 
exalted  a name  as  ours,” 
said  an  eminent  Salva- 
dorian lady,  a graduate  of  Vassar. 
El  Salvador  (The  Saviour)  is 
without  question  the  name  above 
every  name.  In  many  ways  the 
little  republic,  El  Salvador,  is 
the  foremost  country  in  Central 
America.  It  is  possible  to>/make 
it  indeed  the  saviour  in  that  part 
of  the  world.  Nothing  less  than 
this  is  the  ambition  of  many  of  its 
best  people.  To  help  in  that 
direction  is  the  aim  of  this  book- 
let and  of  The  American  Baptist 
Home  Mission  Society  behind  it. 


EL  SALVADOR 

By  PERCY  T.  CHAPMAN 


El  Salvador  is  the 
smallest  of  the  five 
Central  American 
republics,  and  lies 
on  the  shores  of  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  13 
degrees  north  of 
the  equator  and  400 
miles  north  of  the  Panama  Canal.  It 
is  the  most  densely  populated  of  the 
American  republics,  and  averages  more 
people  to  the  square  mile  than  any 
other  country  on  either  American  con- 
tinent; eight  times  more  than  Uruguay, 
the  most  densely  populated  republic  of 
South  America,  and  three  times  more 
than  Cuba,  the  most  thickly  peopled 
republic  of  North  America,  and  five 
times  more  than  the  United  States  it- 
self. Had  the  United  States  the  same 
density  of  population,  it  would  have 
seven  hundred  millions. 

THE  PEOPLE 

The  inhabitants  of  El  Salvador  are 
whites  of  Spanish  origin,  Eadinos  of 
mixed  Indian  and  Spanish  blood,  and 
pure-blooded  Indians  of  the  Aztec  race. 
The  climate  is  tropical,  but  being  a 
mountainous  country  its  temperature 
varies  from  temperate  to  torrid.  This 
is  an  important  fact,  as  foreign  resi- 
dents can  choose  that  which  is  most 
agreeable  to  them. 

THE  LAND 

It  is  an  agricultural  nation,  occupy- 
ing itself  chiefly  with  coffee,  sugar  and 


maize  for  its  own  consumption.  The 
country  is  highly  volcanic  in  character 
and  has  sixteen  volcanoes,  one  at  least 


being  continuously  active.  In  riding 
over  the  country  onQ  hears  stories  of 
how,  in  digging  wells,  the  crust  of  the 


earth  has  been  pierced  and  unknown 
depths  uncovered.  In  many  parts  gey- 
sers of  steam,  boiling  mud  and  hot 
springs  are  passed,  and  one  can  hear 
the  boiling  elements  beneath  one’s  feet. 
Often,  too,  the  footsteps  of  the  mules 
sound  as  though  passing  over  hollow 
causeways.  The  lines  of  fire  to  the 
various  volcanoes  can  thus  be  traced. 
Earthquakes  are  of  frequent  occurrence, 
and  add  greatly  to  the  missionary's 
many  anxieties. 

THE  GOVERNMENT 

The  government  of  El  Salvador  is 
good  at  present.  Perfect  liberty,  both 
personal  and  religious,  is  enjoyed. 
Sometimes  this  is  infringed  when  the 
municipal  authority  is  influenced  by 
some  fanatical  priest,  but  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that  even  this  failing  is  passing 
away.  In  the  new  spirit  of  patriotism 
and  unselfishness  introduced  by  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  late  president.  Dr. 
Manuel  Enriques  Aranjo,  and  continued 
under  the  present  president,  Don  Carlos 
Melendez,  there  is  great  hope  for  the 
future  of  the  republic,  and  for  the 
spread  of  the  Gospel,  without  which 
the  republic  can  never  be  truly  great. 

MISSIONS 

Mission  work  was  begun  in  El  Sal- 
vador some  fifteen  years  ago  by  the 
Central  American  Mission.  During 
this  time  the  work  was  chiefly  sus- 
tained by  one  missionary  and  his  wife, 
working  under  great  difficulties.  This 
missionary,  Mr.  P.  H.  Bender,  is  still 
working  side  by  side  with  the  three 
missionaries  of  The  American  Baptist 
Home  Mission  Society.  The  member- 
ship of  the  Baptist  Churches  now  num- 
bers two  hundred  and  sixty  persons. 
Some  of  these  were  already  believers 
when  we  commenced  work  in  the  re- 


public,  having  been  led  to  Christ  by 
the  colporteurs  of  the  Bible  Societies 
and  by  the  Central  American  Mission 
work;  some  of  them  were  longing  to 
become  connected  with  the  established 
forces  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  Until 
we  organized  them  they  were  without 
the  blessing  of  any  denominational 
fellowship.  One  hundred  members 
were  added  during  the  last  year. 

Our  three  missionaries  are  located  in 
the  three  principal  cities:  Rev.  Wm. 
Keech,  superintendent  of  the  work  at 
San  Salvador  (the  capital),  population 
60,000;  Dr.  G.  A.  Tavel — Sonsonate — 
population  15,000.  Also  three  native 
pastors  working  under  their  supervi- 
sion. Also  Mr.  Percy  Chapman — Santa 
Ana — population  55,000.  Attached  to 
these  three  centers  we  have  four  well- 
established  outstations,  and  there  is 
also  extensive  evangelistic  work  car- 
ried on  among  the  people  scattered  over 
the  mountainside. 

THE  DARK  SIDE 

The  needs  of  the  republic  call  loudly 
for  the  extension  of  our  work.  The 
people  themselves,  awakening  after  four 
centuries  of  the  fear,  superstition  and 
oppression  of  medieval  Romanism,  are 
literally  crying  out  for  the  light  and 
liberty  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  Our 
missionaries  are  constantly  obliged  to 
refuse  the  many  appeals  that  come  in 
from  all  parts  of  the  country,  because 
of  inability  to  respond.  Even  some  of 
the  government  officials  who  are  large 
employers  of  labor  call  on  us  for  the 
evangelization  of  their  respective  cen- 
ters. Our  churches  have  no  schools 
and  our  people  fear  to  send  their  chil- 
dren to  the  municipal  schools  because 
of  the  corrupt  atmosphere.  Our  hope 
for  the  future  is  in  the  children,  and 


they  should  have  the  advantage  of  a 
moral  education. 

THE  HOSPITALS 

We  have  no  means  of  rendering 
medical  assistance  to  our  people.  The 
hospitals,  although  government  insti- 
tutions, are  hotbeds  of  a fanatical 
Romanism,  and  while  entrance  cannot 
be  refused  to  patients,  neglect,  ill  treat- 
ment and  persecution  often  force  them 
to  leave. 

HANDICAPS 

The  preaching  of  the  Gospel  of 
Christ  as  the  all-sufficient  Saviour  is 
as  necessary  in  Central  America  as  it 
is  in  China,  India  or  Africa.  The  people 
have  knowledge  of  systems  of  religion, 
but  all  lack  the  life-giving  principle  of 
the  “only  name  under  Heaven  given 
among  men,  whereby  we  must  be 
saved.”  The  Romanism  of  El  Salvador 
is  Mariolatry  and  saint  worship.  A 
woman  recently  declared  to  one  of  our 
missionaries  that  the  Protestants  did 
not  worship  God.  This  is  a common 
charge,  as  the  people  believe  the 
calumnies  of  the  priests  who  tell  them 
that  the  Protestants  worship  women, 
animals,  etc.  He  quickly  called  her 
attention  to  the  fact  of  all  the  temples 
and  altars  of  her  religion  being  erected 
to  a multitude  of  virgins  and  saints, 
and  of  the  religious  feasts  being  all  in 
honor  of  one  patron  saint  or  another. 
Of  the  fact  that  she  commenced  the 
Calendar  of  Saints  in  January  and  con- 
cluded in  December,  adding  an  “All 
Saints’  Day”  to  satisfy  any  unknown 
one,  and  that  in  the  end  she  had  hardly 
directed  herself  once  to  Him  who  is 
alone  worthy  of  worship. 

A conversation  overheard  between  a 
missionary  and  a young  girl  will  give 
a good  idea  of  the  conception  of  God 
given  to  the  people  by  the  priests. 


The.  missionary  was  speaking  to  her  of 
Christ  and  salvation,  when  he  said 
something  that  caused  the  girl  to 
exclaim:  “But  the  Holy  Cross  is 
greater  than  God!”  She  truly  thought 
that  a wooden  cross,  stuck  at  almost 
every  corner  in  Central  America,  was 
greater  in  power  than  the  Almighty 
Creator  of  the  universe. 

Bible  burning,  the  public  and  re- 
peated cursing  of  our  missionaries  and 
their  adherents,  and  the  ascribing  of  all 
calamities,  both  public  and  private,  to 
the  presence  of  the  Protestants,  are  the 
chief  occupations  of  most  of  the  re^ 
ligious  instructors  of  the  people.  The 
religious  feasts  are  a drunken  carousal 
and  many  murders  and  other  evils  are 
their  outcome.  We  have  seen  the  re- 
ligious processions  stopping  at  the 
saloons  as  they  passed,  and  the  bearers 
of  the  images  staggering  to  overtake 
the  procession  again,  having  been  left 
behind  in  the  last  saloon. 

IMMORALITY 

History,  past  and  present,  shows  that 
unbelief  and  immorality  are  the  results 
produced  in  the  national  life  of  coun- 
tries dominated  by  Rome.  At  present 
in  El  Salvador  the  immorality  is  more 
apparent  than  the  unbelief.  Statistical 
tables  show  that  71  per  cent,  of  the 
births  in  one  of  the  principal  cities 
and  73  per  cent,  in  another  were,  in 
1909,  illegitimate.  People  speak  of 
their  illegitimate  children  without  em- 
barrassment. We  have  heard  those 
who  were  presumably  of  the  society 
of  the  republic  speaking  loudly  to  each 
other  across  the  dinner  table  of  the 
hotel  explaining  which  were  the  legiti- 
mate and  which  were  the  illegitimate 
children  of  their  friends.  Among  the 
lower  classes  the  women  speak  not  of 


their  husbands,  but  of  “the  father  of 
their  children.”  Life  is  reckoned  as  of 
little  value.  All  carry  arms  of  one  kind 
or  another  and  murder,  assassination 
and  suicide  are  very  common.  Women, 
generally  speaking,  occupy  the  same 
position  that  they  do  in  heathen 
countries. 

THE  BRIGHT  SIDE 

But  to  turn  to  the  brighter  side — 
Salvadorians  when  illuminated  in  heart 
and  in  mind  by  the  Gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ  make  enthusiastic,  warm-hearted 
Christians.  It  can  be  truly  said  of 
them  that  love  and  service  for  Christ 
become  their  chief  object  in  life.  No 
distance  is  too  great  nor  road  too  bad 
for  them  to  traverse  in  order  to  be 
present  at  meeting.  To  the  different 
centers  many  walk  from  four  to  eigh- 
teen miles  to  be  present  at  the  Sunday 
services,  especially  on  “Communion 
Sunday,”  in  which  service  they  dearly 
love  to  participate.  One  dear  woman, 
who  shortly  afterward  died,  noticing 
that  her  attacks  of  fever  always  came 
on  on  Saturday,  decided  that  it  was 
the  devil’s  device  to  keep  her  from 
Sunday  worship.  So  to  “resist”  him 
she  walked  down  from  the  mountain, 
eighteen  miles  on  a very  bad  road, 
with  the  fever  on  her.  Another  brother 
walked  thirty-six  miles  out  and  the 
same  distance  back  in  the  hope,  which 
proved  vain,  of  being  able  to  take  some 
member  of  his  family  to  two  special 
meetings  held  near  his  home.  This 
meant  also  that  he  lost  several  days’ 
work.  The  “communion  of  the  saints” 
is  so  real  that  parties  from  one  congre- 
gation walk  long  distances  to  visit  their 
fellow  believers.  Another  notable  fact 
is  that  their  brotherhood  in  the  Lord 
is  esteemed  more  highly  than  the 
natural  relationship. 


hor  them  to  accept  Christ  means 
persecution  in  its  different  forms,  often 
that  they  are  rejected  by  friends  and 
family,  loss  of  employment,  and  also 
very  often  public  ridicule  and  ill  treat- 
ment. This  keeps  our  churches  at  a 
high  standard,  and  free  from  nominal 
professors. 

This  story  would  not  be  complete 
did  we  not  mention  the  work  done  in 
the  prison  at  Santa  Ana.  The  gover- 
nor gave  our  church  there  free  access 
and  all  possible  help  to  reach  the 
prisoners.  Two  services  are  held  in 
the  respective  wards  each  Sunday. 
There  is  a large  voluntary  attendance 
by  the  men,  who  listen  eagerly  to  the 
message,  so  vital  and  hopeful;  a mes- 
sage so  different  from  anything  con- 
nected with  religion  that  they  had 
heard  before.  There  is  no  capital  pun- 
ishment for  the  ordinary  murderer  in 
El  Salvador,  and  many  of  these  men 
have  sentences  of  ten,  fifteen  and 
twenty  years,  and  the  blood  of  several 
of  their  fellow  men  upon  their  hands. 
The  governor  speaks  highly  of  the 
changed  tone  and  atmosphere  in  the 
prison  since  the  Gospel  has  been 
preached  there,  and,  even  better  than 
this,  some  forty  have  openly  declared 
their  faith  in  Christ. 

The  church  in  Santa  Ana,  which  is 
our  largest  and  most  developed  congre- 
gation, has  already  given  the  tenth  of 
its  one  hundred  members,  having  sent 
the  ten  to  the  evangelization  of  its  own 
and  the  adjacent  republics.  How  many 
home  churches  have  attained  this 
standard? 

The  following  extract  from  the  re- 
port of  Mr.  Keech,  for  the  past  year, 
sums  up  the  situation  in  this  neighbor 
republic : 


“The  latest  census  returns  of  this 
republic  give  a total  population  of 
1,133,004.  Of  these  there  is  a totally 
unevangelized  population  of  1,120,000. 
And  this  is  only  in  the  republic  of  El 
Salvador,  with  its  small  area  of  7,000 
square  miles.  Around  us  are  three 
larger  republics,  each  one  being  about 
seven  times  larger  in  area  than  Sal- 
vador, with  a total  population  of  per- 
haps 3,000,000  souls.  El  Salvador,  with 
its  teeming,  industrious  and  thriving 
population,  is  naturally  situated  that  it 
may  become  the  fulcrum  for  the  uplift 
of  these  peoples  around.  Here,  then,  is 
our  task. 

“Existing  work  lacks  proper  church 
edifices.  The  only  church  edifice  we 
have  is  in  Santa  Ana,  with  the  burden 
of  a debt  upon  it.  The  capital,  with 
its  population  of  about  60,000  people, 
is  without  a proper  place  of  worship. 

“In  the  town  of  El  Progreso  an  old 
Indian  woman,  who,  with  her  numerous 
family,  lives  on  their  own  plot  of  land 
in  thatched  huts,  offered  some  time 
ago  a piece  of  land  in  order  to  build 
a chapel.  It  seemed  so  much  for  her 
to  do  that  for  long  I did  not  care  to 
receive  it,  but  when  she  requested 
again  and  again  that  it  might  be  used 
for  this  purpose,  I finally  received  the 
land  in  the  name  of  the  Home  Mission 
Society.  Three  hundred  dollars  in  gold 
would  put  up  a building  quite  sufficient 
for  present  needs  in  that  town.” 

The  name  of  this  republic,  “El  Sal- 
vador," signifies  in  Spanish  “The 
Saviour.”  It  was  prophesied  at  the 
establishment  of  the  Baptist  Mission 
there  that  the  republic  from  its 
strategic  situation,  and  because  of  the 
character  of  its  people,  and  because  of 
its  past  history,  was  fitted  to  be  the 
saviour  of  Central  America. 


P.  T.  Chapman  and  deacons,  Santa  Ana 


Supt.  Wm.  Keech  Members  Building 

Santa  Ana  Church 


PUBLISHED  BY 

THE  AMERICAN  BAPTIST 
HOME  MISSION  SOCIETY 

23  East  26th  Street  New  York 


10M — S-T3. 


